Augmented reality and physical games

ABSTRACT

Augmented reality and physical game techniques are described. In one or more implementations, an indication is received by a computing device of a location of a physical gaming piece of a game. An augmentation is computed based on the indication by the computing device to be displayed as part of the game. The augmentation is displayed by the computing device on a display device that is at least partially transparent such that a physical portion of the game is viewable through the display device concurrently with the augmentation.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/440,165, filed Apr. 5, 2012, the entire contents of which is herebyincorporated herein by reference for all purposes.

BACKGROUND

Conventional games were limited to physical objects that were moved bythe players of the game. For example, users could deal playing cards,move chess pieces, roll dice, and so on. With the advent of thecomputing device, video games were developed in which a user interactedwith an input device such as a game controller, keyboard, cursor controldevice (e.g., mouse), and so forth.

Although graphics involved in these games continue to improve, the useris typically divorced from the physical experience involved withconventional games. This may be at least partially responsible for thecontinued success of conventional games. Consequently, a divide stillexists between the conventional games and video games.

SUMMARY

Augmented reality and physical game techniques are described. In one ormore implementations, an indication is received by a computing device ofa location of a physical gaming piece of a game. An augmentation iscomputed based on the indication by the computing device to be displayedas part of the game. The augmentation is displayed by the computingdevice on a display device that is at least partially transparent suchthat a physical portion of the game is viewable through the displaydevice concurrently with the augmentation.

In one or more implementations, a gesture that was made by a user tointeract with a physical game is recognized by a computing device. Anaugmentation is computed by the computing device based on the gesture.The augmentation is displayed by the computing device on a displaydevice that is at least partially transparent such that a physicalportion of the physical game is viewable through the display deviceconcurrently with the augmentation.

In one or more implementations, an apparatus includes a housingconfigured in a hand-held form factor, a light guide, a light enginedisposed within the housing and optically coupled to the light guide,and one or more modules disposed within the housing and implemented atleast partially in hardware. The light guide is supported by the housingand is at least partially transparent such that at least a portion of aphysical surroundings of the apparatus are viewable through the lightguide. The one or more modules are configured to detect a presence of aphysical game in the physical surroundings, compute an augmentationbased on a current state of play of the physical game, and cause thelight engine to output the augmentation for display by the light guideto be viewable concurrently with at least a portion of the physical gamein the physical surroundings through the light guide.

This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified form that are further described below in the DetailedDescription. This Summary is not intended to identify key features oressential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended tobe used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subjectmatter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The detailed description is described with reference to the accompanyingfigures. In the figures, the left-most digit(s) of a reference numberidentifies the figure in which the reference number first appears. Theuse of the same reference numbers in different instances in thedescription and the figures may indicate similar or identical items.

FIG. 1 is an illustration of an environment in an example implementationthat is operable to employ augmented reality and physical gametechniques as described herein.

FIG. 2 depicts an example of a display device of FIG. 1 as including alight guide illustrated in a front view.

FIG. 3 depicts an example of the light guide of FIG. 2 which is shown ingreater detail using a side view.

FIG. 4 depicts an example implementation of the light guide and lightengine of the display device of FIG. 3 in which layers of the lightguide are shown.

FIG. 5 depicts an example implementation of a physical game beingplaying in conjunction with a plurality of computing devices.

FIG. 6 depicts an example implementation showing use of a computingdevice by the first user of FIG. 5 as part of playing a board game.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram depicting a procedure in an exampleimplementation in which an augmentation is computed based on anindication of a location of a physical gaming piece of a game.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram depicting a procedure in an exampleimplementation in which an augmentation is computed based on a gestureinput as part of a game.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example system including various components of anexample device that can be implemented as any type of computing deviceas described with reference to FIGS. 1-8 to implement embodiments of thetechniques described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Overview

Conventional physical games continue to be popular for a variety ofreasons. These reasons may include an ability of users to interact withphysical game pieces of the board game, such as checkers, chess pieces,player representations, and so on. However, conventional physical gameswere often limited in the technology that was incorporated as part ofthe game due to cost, complexity, and other considerations.

Augmented reality game techniques are described. In one or moreimplementations, a computing device (e.g., a mobile phone, tabletcomputer, and so forth) is used to augment a physical game, such as aboard game, card game, and so on. In this way, the physical game may beaugmented using devices that may be readily available to a user, such asthe user's mobile phone, tablet computer, and so forth, thereby reducingcost and complexity in the provision of the functionality to users. Theaugmentations may be provided in a variety of ways.

A user, for instance, may leverage a computing device having a mobileform factor (e.g., mobile phone, tablet, wearable computing device, andso forth) to compute and output an augmentation for display. In oneexample, the computing device may include a display device that is atleast partially transparent such that the physical surroundings of thecomputing device are viewable through the display device, such as aportion of the physical game. The augmentation may also be displayed bythe display device to be viewable concurrently with the portion of thephysical game, such as to use auto-stereoscopic techniques to supportviewing in three dimensions. Thus, the augmentation may expand a user'sexperience with the physical game. A variety of other examples are alsocontemplated as further described in the following sections.

In the following discussion, an example environment is first describedthat may employ the techniques described herein. Example procedures arethen described which may be performed in the example environment as wellas other environments. Consequently, performance of the exampleprocedures is not limited to the example environment and the exampleenvironment is not limited to performance of the example procedures.

Example Environment

FIG. 1 is an illustration of an environment 100 in an exampleimplementation that is operable to employ the techniques describedherein. The illustrated environment 100 includes a computing device 102,which may be configured in a variety of ways. For example, the computingdevice 102 is illustrated as employing a housing 104 that is configuredin a mobile form factor. The mobile form factor, for instance, mayinclude a tablet computer, a mobile phone, portable game device,wearable device (e.g., glasses as a display device that are wearable bya user), and so forth. However, a wide variety of other form factors arealso contemplated, such as computer and television form factors asdescribed in relation to FIG. 9.

Accordingly, the computing device 102 may range from full resourcedevices with substantial memory and processor resources (e.g., personalcomputers, game consoles) to low-resource devices with limited memoryand/or processing resources (e.g., traditional televisions, net books).Additionally, although a single computing device 102 is shown, thecomputing device 102 may be representative of a plurality of differentdevices, such as a user-wearable helmet or glasses and game console, aremote control having a display and set-top box combination, and so on.

The computing device 102 is further illustrated as including a displaydevice 106 that is at least partially transparent in this example. Thetransparency of the display device 106 is illustrated as allowing atleast a portion of the physical surroundings 108 of the computing device102 to be viewed through the device. In the illustrated example, thephysical surroundings 108 that are viewable through the display device106 include a part of a physical game 110 (e.g., a backgammon board) andpart of a finger of the user's hand 112.

The display device 106 may also be configured to output a user interface(e.g., an augmentation 114 showing the score “Ellie: 3 Liam: 4” in theillustration) that is viewable concurrently with the portion of thephysical surroundings 108. This may be used to support a variety ofdifferent functionality, such as augmented reality as further describedbelow.

The computing device 102 also includes an input/output module 116 inthis example. The input/output module 116 is representative offunctionality relating to detection and processing of inputs and outputsof the computing device 102. For example, the input/output module 116may be configured to receive inputs from a keyboard, mouse, to recognizegestures and cause operations to be performed that correspond to thegestures, and so on. The inputs may be identified by the input/outputmodule 116 in a variety of different ways.

For example, the input/output module 116 may be configured to recognizean input received via touchscreen functionality of a display device 106,such as a finger of a user's hand as proximal to the display device 106of the computing device 102, from a stylus, and so on. The input maytake a variety of different forms, such as to recognize movement of thefinger of the user's hand 108 across the display device 106, drawing ofa line, and so on. Other examples include detection of a user's handand/or finger as either touching the device or hovering above thedevice, which may be recognizable as separate gestures. Other examplesof input would be tracking pupils and blinks of the user's eyes,movement of the computing device 102 (e.g., tilting and/or shaking), andso forth.

In implementations, these inputs may be recognized as gestures that areconfigured to initiate one or more operations of the computing device102 or other device, such as to navigate through a user interface,select and/or move objects displayed in the user interface, and so on. Avariety of other examples are also contemplated, such as to recognize agesture from one or more images captured by a camera of the computingdevice 102 as further described below.

The input/output module 116 is also illustrated as including anaugmented reality module 118. The augmented reality module 118 isrepresentative of functionality of the computing device 102 to augment aview of the physical surroundings 108 (e.g., the “real world”) of thecomputing device 102 using the display device 106. In the illustratedexample, for instance, the computing device 102 is illustrated as beingphysically positioned in surroundings that include a board game (e.g.,backgammon) and fingers of the user's hand 112. Thus, the augmentedreality module 118 is configured to output an augmentation 114 (e.g.,the score 114 of the game) to be viewed in conjunction with the physicalsurroundings 108.

To generate this view and know “where” to place to augmentation, theaugmented reality module 118 may leverage a variety of techniques todetermine an orientation and/or position of the computing device 102 inrelation to the physical surroundings 108 of the device. For example,the augmented reality module 118 may leverage a camera 120 to captureimages of the physical surroundings 108. The augmented reality module118 may then process the images to locate one or more markers todetermine how the computing device 102 is positioned, oriented, moved,and so on.

These markers may take a variety of forms. For instance, the augmentedreality module 118 may set one or more view points in the physicalsurroundings 108 as markers and thus serve as a basis to determineorientation and/or positioning, such as physical game pieces of thephysical game. In another instance, the augmented reality module 118 mayleverage a view of one or more augmented reality (AR) tags that arephysically positioned within the surrounding environment of thecomputing device 102. Thus, the items in the physical surroundings 108may act as a basis to determine where the computing device 102 islocated as well as how the computing device 102 is oriented.

In another example, the camera 120 may be configured to capture one ormore images of a user of the computing device 102. For example, a lensof the camera 120 is illustrated in FIG. 1 as a circle disposed to theright of the display device 106 in the housing 104 as pointed toward aface of a user of the computing device 102. Images captured by thecamera 120 may then be used to determine a three dimensional location ofpupils of the user. In one or more implementations, the location of thepupils is calculated without calculating a vector that describes “wherethe eye is pointing,” thereby conserving resources of the computingdevice 102. Other examples are also contemplated in which such a vectoris calculated. In this way, the augmented reality module 118 maydetermine how to output the augmentation 114 for display by the displaydevice 106.

The augmented reality module 118 may also leverage other sensors 122 todetermine a position and/or orientation of the computing device 102, andmore particularly a position and/or orientation of the display device106. For example, the sensors 122 may be configured as an inertialmeasurement unit (IMU), which may include a gyroscope, one or moreaccelerometers, a magnetometer, and so on including any combinationthereof. These units may be used to generate a basis with which todetermine an orientation and position of the computing device 102 inrelation to its physical surroundings 108.

Through one or more of these examples, the augmented reality module 118may capture a view of the “reality” that is to be augmented, which inthis instance involves a physical game that may be played by one or moreusers. The augmentation 114 may then be computed to be displayed at asize, orientation, and location using the display device 106.

The augmentation 114 may be configured in a variety of ways, such as fortwo-dimensional output, three dimensional output, and so on. Forinstance, the augmented reality module 118 and the display device 106may leverage stereoscopic techniques to give a perception of depth tothe augmentation, such as through auto-stereoscopy in which optics areused by the display device 106 to split an image directionally to theuser's eyes. A variety of other techniques are also contemplated withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope thereof.

Further, it should be readily apparent that augmentations generated bythe augmented reality module 118 may assume a variety of other forms.These forms include objects as part of a game and other changes to aview of the physical surroundings 108 of a computing device 102 throughdisplay as part of a user interface that is viewable through the displaydevice 106. Further discussion of augmentations may be found in relationto FIG. 5.

The display device 106 may be configured in a variety of ways to supportthe techniques described herein, such as through configuration as alight guide that provides an output having a focal plane focused atinfinity. An example of such a light guide is described beginning inrelation to the following figure.

FIG. 2 depicts an example 200 of the display device 106 of FIG. 1configured as including a light guide illustrated in a front view. Theexample 200 includes a light guide 202 and a light engine 204 that formthe display device 106. The light guide 202 may be configured in avariety of ways, such as a piece of glass, plastic, or other opticallytransmittable material that serves to display an output of the lightengine 204.

The light engine 204 may be configured in a variety of ways, such as apico projector or other image output device. Examples of a light engine204 include laser driven LCOS or LED driven scanning, an LCOS display,e.g., including RGB LEDs or lasers, and so on. The light engine 204 isoptically coupled to the light guide 202 such that an output of thelight engine 204 is displayed by the light guide 202 for viewing by oneor more users. The light engine 204 may be optically coupled to thelight guide 202 in a variety of ways, an example of which may be foundin relation to the following figure.

FIG. 3 depicts an example 300 of the light guide 202 of FIG. 2 which isshown in greater detail using a side view. The light guide 202 in thisexample is illustrated as including in-coupling optics 302 andout-coupling optics 304. The in-coupling optics 302 are configured tooptically couple the light engine 204 to the light guide 202. Thein-coupling optics 302 may be configured in a variety of ways, such assurface relief gratings, switchable Bragg gratings, volume holographgratings, reflective and partially reflective surfaces, free formoptical elements, wedge optics, and so forth.

In the illustrated example, the in-coupling optics 302 are configured tobend light output by the light engine 204 approximately ninety degreesfor transmission to the out-coupling optics 304. Thus, the in-couplingoptics 302 in this example may utilize one or more techniques to “turnlight” for transmission to the out-coupling optics as described above.

Further, the in-coupling and out-coupling optics 302, 304 may beutilized as pupil expanders to expand an output from the light engine204. The in-coupling optics 302, for instance, may be configured toexpand an output of the light engine 204 horizontally. The out-couplingoptics 304 may then receive this horizontally expanded output andfurther expand it in a vertical direction for output to the eye 306,e.g., an eye of the user of the computing device 102, such as by againutilizing one or more techniques to “turn light”.

Therefore, the light engine 204 may be configured as a laser driven LCOSor LED driven scanning or LCOS display, may include RGB LEDs having abandwidth in the range of five to ten nanometers to allow for efficientdiffraction, and so forth. The light engine 204 is optically coupled tothe in-coupling optics 302 of the light guide 202 utilizing one or moretechniques to “turn light” as previously described. Light is thentransmitted along the light guide 202 through the in-coupling optics 302using total internal reflection (TIR) to a horizontal expansion grating.This grating serves to expand the “exit pupil” horizontally and inaddition turns the light ninety degrees so it is propagating upwards inthe example 300 as shown by the arrows. The light then encounters theout-coupling optics 304 which expands the “exit pupil” vertically andagain turns the light as shown by the arrows so it is coupled out of thelight guide 202 and towards an eye 306 of the user to view an image,e.g., a part of a user interface.

FIG. 4 depicts an example implementation of the light guide 202 andlight engine 204 of the display device 106 in which layers of the lightguide 202 are shown. The light guide 202 includes an opticallytransparent material 402 and diffraction grading matrix 404 that areusable to implement out-coupling optics 304 as described above inrelation to FIG. 3.

The light guide 202 also includes a layer 406 to implement touch sensorsacross a front surface of the display device 106. The layer 406, forinstance, may be configured as a grid formed using indium tin oxide(ITO) to detect X, Y coordinates of a contact, such as one or morefingers of the user's hand 108 as shown in relation to FIG. 1. Thus,this layer 406 may be used to provide inputs to the input-output module116 which may be used to recognize one or more gestures to initiate oneor more operations of the computing device 102, e.g., navigate through auser interface, launch an application, interact with a display object,and so forth.

The light guide 202 is also illustrated as including an electro-chromiclayer 408 that is separated from the diffraction grading matrix 404 byan air gap 410 or lower optical index material. The electro-chromiclayer 408 is operable to alternate between transparent andnon-transparent states. This may be used for a variety of purposes, suchas to control which part of a physical surroundings 108 of the computingdevice 102 are viewable through the display device 106, improve contrastfor portions of a user interface displayed by the display device 106,and so on.

Thus, a display device 106 that incorporates a light guide 202 may beused to support a variety of functionality. For example, the displaydevice 106 may support control to display an augmentationauto-stereoscopically, e.g., a different display to each eye withoutusing dedicated eyewear. In this case, the display device 106 mayprovide a true overlay of objects that may be referenced for each eye.This may also be used to objects that are positioned close to thedisplay device 106 that was not otherwise possible using conventionaldisplay devices, e.g., due to parallax for near objects whereby theangle to each eye to the object is different. Further, in the case of adisplay device 106 that is at least partially transparent, the portionof the physical surroundings may be viewed without redisplaying theportion, thereby conserving resources of the computing device 102.

Further, display devices 106 that incorporate a light guide 202 mayoffer a greater field of view than conventional display devices. Forexample, a field of view for a mobile device is dictated by the displaysize and the viewing distance. At a reasonable viewing distance of 0.5m, the field of view of a mobile device is typically 12 degrees whereasthe field of view of a light guide may be sixty degrees or greater.Thus, use of a light guide 202 by the display device 106 for gaming maybe leveraged such that a typical board game of 0.5 m in size may becaptured by the light guide 202 at approximately 290 millimeters awayfrom the display device 106. Naturally, this is but one example and avariety of other examples are also contemplated.

FIG. 5 depicts an example implementation 500 showing an exampleimplementation in which a top view of a physical game is illustrated.The physical game in this instance is configured as a board game 502that is played by first and second users 504, 506. The board game 502 isplaced on a surface 508 along with computing devices 510, 512 that areviewable by the first and second user's 504, 506, respectively. Thecomputing devices 510, 512 may be configured as previously described forcomputing device 102 or otherwise.

As previously described, even with the availability of video gamesphysical games such as board games continue to be popular for a varietyof reasons. These reasons include that tactile nature and support ofsocial interaction for groups of friends and family. However,conventional physical games seldom leverage advances in technology, suchas due to added cost to the game, complexity, and so forth.

However, by leveraging computing devices that may be used for otherpurposes, the user experience with the physical game may be expandedwith minimal additional cost. Thus, the combination of a computingdevice that interacts with the physical game may be used to support avariety of different opportunities for enhancing the gaming experience.Furthermore with the increase in ownership of computing devices perindividual such a mobile device, the potential for combining thesemobile devices with physical games offers even more gaming experienceopportunities. Although mobile configurations of computing devices aredescribed, these interactions are also applicable to other displayformats such as monitors and large area screens as further described inrelation to FIG. 9.

The computing device 510, 512 may be leveraged to support direct andindirect interaction on the part of the respective first and secondusers 504, 506. For example, indirect interaction may be used in whichthe computing devices 510, 512 are made aware of the physical gamepieces and board by inputs provided by one of the first and second users504, 506. The computing device 102, for instance, may outputinstructions via a user interface that notifies the first or second user405, 406 to perform an action. In another instance, the first and secondusers 504, 506 may provide inputs that describe actions made by theusers, e.g., a roll of a die, movement of a player representation, andso on.

Direct interaction, on the other hand, may be used by the computingdevice 102 to automatically detect one or more actions without receivingmanual inputs from a user. The computing device 102, for instance, mayutilize the camera 120 or other sensors (e.g., sensors on the board ofthe board game 502) to detect actions and respond accordingly.

Regardless of whether indirect or direct interaction is supported, aspreviously described the availability of computing devices (e.g., mobiledevices such as mobile phones and tablets) to users may be leverage toexpand a user's experience with the physical game, such as the boardgame 502. This may include leveraging processing and displayfunctionality that is local to the computing devices 510, 512 as well asnetwork connections, such as to access functionality available from aweb platform.

The computing devices 510, 512, for instance, may include forwardlooking cameras that are positioned to capture images of the physicalgame pieces of the game, such as a board, pieces moved across the board,and so on. These images may be used by the computing device to display avariety of different augmentations. These may include augmentations thatdescribe a current state of a game (e.g., score, process, and so on),augmentations to be displayed as part of game play (e.g., animations),displayed to replace a view of one or more of the game pieces, and soon. An example of an augmentation is described in relation to thefollowing figure.

FIG. 6 depicts an example implementation 600 showing use of thecomputing device 510 by the first user 504 as part of playing the boardgame 502. In this example, the board game 502 is configured as a chessgame having physical game pieces that include a board 602 and a knight604. The computing device 102 this instance may compute an augmentation606 to replace an actual view of the knight 604 with a richer versionthat is viewable by the first user 504.

Thus, in this example the actual physical game piece (e.g., the knight604) is not viewable by the user directly. Rather, the augmentation 606is viewed by the first user 504, instead. A variety of augmentations arecontemplated, such as animations, augmentations of the board (e.g.,enumeration of different zones), descriptions of a current state of playof a game, instructions to be performed by a user (e.g., to move aphysical game piece), and so forth.

Further, the augmentations may be computed in a variety of ways tosupport a variety of different interaction. Returning again to FIG. 5,the computing device 510, 512 may be used to display differentaugmentations to the respective first and second users 504, 506. Thismay include augmentations describing actions that are available to theplayers, game of skill that are performed through interaction with thecomputing devices 510, 512 (e.g., gestures detected by the devices), andso forth.

Further, the computing device 504 may support communication with anothercomputing device to implement the game. This may include communicatingwith the other computing device 512 that is used by another player, oneor more servers of a server farm that implements functionality of thegame (e.g., compute augmentations and other aspects by a web service),and so on.

As previously described in relation to FIG. 1, the computing device maydetermine “where” and “how” to display the augmentation in a variety ofways. In one such example, feature-based tracking may be used such as“Simultaneous, Localization and Mapping’ (SLaM) algorithms that locatescene features such as edges of buildings and corners of rooms and so onfrom images captured by the camera 120. These images may then becorrelated from frame to frame to establish the 3-D geometry of thephysical surroundings by movements of the camera 120 relative to thesurroundings. In another example, this may be performed using adepth-sensing cameras, e.g., two cameras of known displacement employingparallax similar to human vision.

Further, if the size of the object (e.g., the knight 604) that it isbeing located is known by the augmented reality module 118, then thelocation and orientation of those objects may be established by a singlecamera without relative movement. For instance, this technique may beleveraged in the case of the board game in which the sizes of the boardand other game pieces are known. Furthermore, features on the board andpieces may be established as tags, thereby making it easier for therecognition algorithms to work. These features may take a variety offorms, such as simple to complex geometric shapes.

If more than one computing device is used to play the game, such ascomputing devices 510, 512 in the example of FIG. 5, images captured bythe different cameras can be leveraged, such as to overcome obscurationof one piece over another. In another example, transparent game piecesmay be leveraged to mitigate obscuration of one physical game piece byanother.

A user may interact with the computing devices 510, 512 in a variety ofways. This may include physical interaction with the computing devices510, 512, such as to interact with an input device, recognition of oneor more gestures using touchscreen functionality, and so on. In anotherexample, the computing devices 510, 512 may leverage cameras to detectgestures. The computing devices 510, 512, for instance, may includecameras that are configured to capture images of physical game pieces.

Therefore, a user's interaction with a game piece may be recognized as agesture and initiate a corresponding operation of the computing device510, 512. In another instance, a rearward facing camera (e.g., a camerathat is positioned on a same side as an intended viewing direction ofthe display device 106) may be used to capture gestures made by a user.Thus, gestures may be carried out in front of the display or behind thedisplay to interact with the game. Gestures may be used to initiate avariety of different operations, such as to select game pieces, provideinstructions, and so forth, further discussion of which may be found inrelation to FIG. 8.

Example Procedures

The following discussion describes techniques that may be implementedutilizing the previously described systems and devices. Aspects of eachof the procedures may be implemented in hardware, firmware, or software,or a combination thereof. The procedures are shown as a set of blocksthat specify operations performed by one or more devices and are notnecessarily limited to the orders shown for performing the operations bythe respective blocks. In portions of the following discussion,reference will be made to the environment and examples of FIGS. 1-6.

FIG. 7 depicts a procedure 700 in an example implementation in which anaugmentation is computed based on an indication of a location of aphysical gaming piece of a game. An indication is received by acomputing device of a location of a physical gaming piece of a game(block 702). The indication, for instance, may originate from one ormore sensors of the physical game itself, such as a game board, a gamepiece representing an item (e.g., a user, checker, chess piece), and soon. In another instance, the indication may originate from one or moresensors of the computing device 102 itself, such as images capturedusing a camera. In a further instance, indirect interaction techniquesmay be supported, such as an input provided by a user throughinteraction with an input device such as a keyboard, cursor controldevice, gesture or so on that describes the location of the game piece,e.g., a coordinate on a game board.

An augmentation is computed, based on the indication by the computingdevice, to be displayed as part of the game (block 704). Theaugmentation, for instance, may be configured to replace at least aportion of a user's view of a game piece, such as to replace a portionof a game board, a game piece that is configured to be moved during gameplay (e.g., a check, chess piece), and so forth. In another example, theaugmentation may be computed to describe a current state of gameplay.For instance, the augmentation may be configured to output a score, listavailable moves, instructions on how to play, instructions to beperformed by a user, and so forth.

The augmentation is displayed by the computing device on a displaydevice that is at least partially transparent such that a physicalportion of the game is viewable through the display device concurrentlywith the augmentation (block 706). The display device 106, for instance,may be configured to include a light guide 202.

The light guide 202 as shown in FIG. 1 may be configured to allow aportion of the physical surroundings 108 of the computing device 102 tobe viewed through the display device 106 along with an augmentation 114.Thus, the light guide 202 may be used to improve efficiency inprocessing by the computing device by avoiding rendering of the physicalsurroundings by the display device 106. A variety of other functionalityis also made available through use of the light guide 202, such as toreduce eyestrain, improve field of view, support auto-stereoscopictechniques to provide three dimensional viewing, and so forth.

FIG. 8 depicts a procedure 800 in an example implementation in which anaugmentation is computed based on a gesture input as part of a game. Agesture that was made by a user to interact with a physical game isrecognized by a computing device (block 802). The gesture, for instance,may be detected in a variety of ways. In one instance, the gesture isdetected using touchscreen functionality of the display device 106. Inanother instance, one or more cameras may be utilized to capture imageswhich are usable to recognize the gesture, such as one or more depthsensing cameras.

The gesture may also be recognized by the computing device 102 asinvolving one or more of the physical game pieces of the physical game.This may include a particular movement of a gaming piece to indicate anaction, roll of dice, movement of a stylus, and so on. Thus, through useof the physical game pieces the number of richness of the gesturessupported by the computing device 102 may be increased, such as torecognize different gestures from similar movements but involvingdifferent game pieces.

An augmentation is computed by the computing device based on the gesture(block 804). The augmentation, for instance, may be computed based on anoperation to be performed that was indicated by the gesture. Aspreviously described, the augmentation may also be configured in avariety of ways, such as to replace part of a view of the physicalsurroundings, indicate a current state of game play, involve ananimation, and so forth. Thus, the gesture may cause the computingdevice to generate a variety of different augmentations.

The augmentation is displayed by the computing device on a displaydevice that is at least partially transparent such that a physicalportion of the physical game is viewable through the display deviceconcurrently with the augmentation (block 806). For instance, thecomputing device 102 may be configured to employ a light guide 202 tosupport transparent viewing of the physical surroundings 108 aspreviously described. Although use of a mobile form factor wasdescribed, a variety of other form factors may leverage the techniquesdescribed herein without departing from the spirit and scope thereof.

Example System and Device

FIG. 9 illustrates an example system generally at 900 that includes anexample computing device 902 that is representative of one or morecomputing systems and/or devices that may implement the varioustechniques described herein. The computing device 902 may be, forexample, a server of a service provider, a device associated with aclient (e.g., a client device), an on-chip system, and/or any othersuitable computing device or computing system. Further, the computingdevice 902 includes a display device 106 as previously described, whichmay incorporate a light guide 202 and light engine 204 as furtherdetailed in relation to FIG. 2.

The example computing device 902 as illustrated includes a processingsystem 904, one or more computer-readable media 906, and one or more I/Ointerface 908 that are communicatively coupled, one to another. Althoughnot shown, the computing device 902 may further include a system bus orother data and command transfer system that couples the variouscomponents, one to another. A system bus can include any one orcombination of different bus structures, such as a memory bus or memorycontroller, a peripheral bus, a universal serial bus, and/or a processoror local bus that utilizes any of a variety of bus architectures. Avariety of other examples are also contemplated, such as control anddata lines.

The processing system 904 is representative of functionality to performone or more operations using hardware. Accordingly, the processingsystem 904 is illustrated as including hardware element 910 that may beconfigured as processors, functional blocks, and so forth. This mayinclude implementation in hardware as an application specific integratedcircuit or other logic device formed using one or more semiconductors.The hardware elements 910 are not limited by the materials from whichthey are formed or the processing mechanisms employed therein. Forexample, processors may be comprised of semiconductor(s) and/ortransistors (e.g., electronic integrated circuits (ICs)). In such acontext, processor-executable instructions may beelectronically-executable instructions.

The computer-readable storage media 906 is illustrated as includingmemory/storage 912. The memory/storage 912 represents memory/storagecapacity associated with one or more computer-readable media. Thememory/storage component 912 may include volatile media (such as randomaccess memory (RAM)) and/or nonvolatile media (such as read only memory(ROM), Flash memory, optical disks, magnetic disks, and so forth). Thememory/storage component 912 may include fixed media (e.g., RAM, ROM, afixed hard drive, and so on) as well as removable media (e.g., Flashmemory, a removable hard drive, an optical disc, and so forth). Thecomputer-readable media 906 may be configured in a variety of other waysas further described below.

Input/output interface(s) 908 are representative of functionality toallow a user to enter commands and information to computing device 902,and also allow information to be presented to the user and/or othercomponents or devices using various input/output devices. Examples ofinput devices include a keyboard, a cursor control device (e.g., amouse), a microphone, a scanner, touch functionality (e.g., capacitiveor other sensors that are configured to detect physical touch), a camera(e.g., which may employ visible or non-visible wavelengths such asinfrared frequencies to recognize movement as gestures that do notinvolve touch), and so forth. Examples of output devices include adisplay device (e.g., a monitor or projector), speakers, a printer, anetwork card, tactile-response device, and so forth. Thus, the computingdevice 902 may be configured in a variety of ways as further describedbelow to support user interaction.

Various techniques may be described herein in the general context ofsoftware, hardware elements, or program modules. Generally, such modulesinclude routines, programs, objects, elements, components, datastructures, and so forth that perform particular tasks or implementparticular abstract data types. The terms “module,” “functionality,” and“component” as used herein generally represent software, firmware,hardware, or a combination thereof. The features of the techniquesdescribed herein are platform-independent, meaning that the techniquesmay be implemented on a variety of commercial computing platforms havinga variety of processors.

An implementation of the described modules and techniques may be storedon or transmitted across some form of computer-readable media. Thecomputer-readable media may include a variety of media that may beaccessed by the computing device 902. By way of example, and notlimitation, computer-readable media may include “computer-readablestorage media” and “computer-readable signal media.”

“Computer-readable storage media” may refer to media and/or devices thatenable persistent and/or non-transitory storage of information incontrast to mere signal transmission, carrier waves, or signals per se.Thus, computer-readable storage media refers to non-signal bearingmedia. The computer-readable storage media includes hardware such asvolatile and non-volatile, removable and non-removable media and/orstorage devices implemented in a method or technology suitable forstorage of information such as computer readable instructions, datastructures, program modules, logic elements/circuits, or other data.Examples of computer-readable storage media may include, but are notlimited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technology,CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (DVD) or other optical storage, harddisks, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or othermagnetic storage devices, or other storage device, tangible media, orarticle of manufacture suitable to store the desired information andwhich may be accessed by a computer.

“Computer-readable signal media” may refer to a signal-bearing mediumthat is configured to transmit instructions to the hardware of thecomputing device 902, such as via a network. Signal media typically mayembody computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules,or other data in a modulated data signal, such as carrier waves, datasignals, or other transport mechanism. Signal media also include anyinformation delivery media. The term “modulated data signal” means asignal that has one or more of its characteristics set or changed insuch a manner as to encode information in the signal. By way of example,and not limitation, communication media include wired media such as awired network or direct-wired connection, and wireless media such asacoustic, RF, infrared, and other wireless media.

As previously described, hardware elements 910 and computer-readablemedia 906 are representative of modules, programmable device logicand/or fixed device logic implemented in a hardware form that may beemployed in some embodiments to implement at least some aspects of thetechniques described herein, such as to perform one or moreinstructions. Hardware may include components of an integrated circuitor on-chip system, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), afield-programmable gate array (FPGA), a complex programmable logicdevice (CPLD), and other implementations in silicon or other hardware.In this context, hardware may operate as a processing device thatperforms program tasks defined by instructions and/or logic embodied bythe hardware as well as a hardware utilized to store instructions forexecution, e.g., the computer-readable storage media describedpreviously.

Combinations of the foregoing may also be employed to implement varioustechniques described herein. Accordingly, software, hardware, orexecutable modules may be implemented as one or more instructions and/orlogic embodied on some form of computer-readable storage media and/or byone or more hardware elements 910. The computing device 902 may beconfigured to implement particular instructions and/or functionscorresponding to the software and/or hardware modules. Accordingly,implementation of a module that is executable by the computing device902 as software may be achieved at least partially in hardware, e.g.,through use of computer-readable storage media and/or hardware elements910 of the processing system 904. The instructions and/or functions maybe executable/operable by one or more articles of manufacture (forexample, one or more computing devices 902 and/or processing systems904) to implement techniques, modules, and examples described herein.

As further illustrated in FIG. 9, the example system 900 enablesubiquitous environments for a seamless user experience when runningapplications on a personal computer (PC), a television device, and/or amobile device. Services and applications run substantially similar inall three environments for a common user experience when transitioningfrom one device to the next while utilizing an application, playing avideo game, watching a video, and so on.

In the example system 900, multiple devices are interconnected through acentral computing device. The central computing device may be local tothe multiple devices or may be located remotely from the multipledevices. Thus, the augmented reality module 118 of FIG. 1 may beimplemented on a single computing device 102 as shown in FIG. 1,multiple computing devices 510, 512 as shown in FIG. 5, and may alsoleverage functionality of a platform 922 as further described below. Inone embodiment, the central computing device may be a cloud of one ormore server computers that are connected to the multiple devices througha network, the Internet, or other data communication link.

In one embodiment, this interconnection architecture enablesfunctionality to be delivered across multiple devices to provide acommon and seamless experience to a user of the multiple devices. Eachof the multiple devices may have different physical requirements andcapabilities, and the central computing device uses a platform to enablethe delivery of an experience to the device that is both tailored to thedevice and yet common to all devices. In one embodiment, a class oftarget devices is created and experiences are tailored to the genericclass of devices. A class of devices may be defined by physicalfeatures, types of usage, or other common characteristics of thedevices.

In various implementations, the computing device 902 may assume avariety of different configurations, such as for computer 914, mobile916, and television 918 uses. Each of these configurations includesdevices that may have generally different constructs and capabilities,and thus the computing device 902 may be configured according to one ormore of the different device classes and accordingly the display device106 may also be configured to accommodate these differentconfigurations. For instance, the computing device 902 may beimplemented as the computer 914 class of a device that includes apersonal computer, desktop computer, a multi-screen computer, laptopcomputer, netbook, and so on.

The computing device 902 may also be implemented as the mobile 916 classof device that includes mobile devices, such as a mobile phone, portablemusic player, portable gaming device, a tablet computer, a multi-screencomputer, and so on. The computing device 902 may also be implemented asthe television 918 class of device that includes devices having orconnected to generally larger screens in casual viewing environments.These devices include televisions, set-top boxes, gaming consoles, andso on.

The techniques described herein may be supported by these variousconfigurations of the computing device 902 and are not limited to thespecific examples of the techniques described herein. This functionalitymay also be implemented all or in part through use of a distributedsystem, such as over a “cloud” 920 via a platform 922 as describedbelow.

The cloud 920 includes and/or is representative of a platform 922 forresources 924. The platform 922 abstracts underlying functionality ofhardware (e.g., servers) and software resources of the cloud 920. Theresources 924 may include applications and/or data that can be utilizedwhile computer processing is executed on servers that are remote fromthe computing device 902. Resources 924 can also include servicesprovided over the Internet and/or through a subscriber network, such asa cellular or Wi-Fi network.

The platform 922 may abstract resources and functions to connect thecomputing device 902 with other computing devices. The platform 922 mayalso serve to abstract scaling of resources to provide a correspondinglevel of scale to encountered demand for the resources 924 that areimplemented via the platform 922. Accordingly, in an interconnecteddevice embodiment, implementation of functionality described herein maybe distributed throughout the system 900. For example, the functionalitymay be implemented in part on the computing device 902 as well as viathe platform 922 that abstracts the functionality of the cloud 920.

CONCLUSION

Although the invention has been described in language specific tostructural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understoodthat the invention defined in the appended claims is not necessarilylimited to the specific features or acts described. Rather, the specificfeatures and acts are disclosed as example forms of implementing theclaimed invention.

1. An apparatus comprising: a light engine; a light guide configured toreceive light from the light engine, the light guide being at leastpartially transparent such that at least a portion of physicalsurroundings of the apparatus are viewable through the light guide; andone or more modules implemented at least partially in hardware, the oneor more modules being configured to detect a presence of a physical gamein the physical surroundings, compute an augmentation based at leastpartially on a current state of play of the physical game, and cause thelight engine to output the augmentation for display by the light guide.2. The apparatus of claim 1, where the one or more modules comprises oneor more of a touch sensor, a camera, a keyboard, a cursor, a gyroscope,an accelerometer, and a magnetometer.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1,wherein the one or more modules are configured to detect a presence of aphysical game via a manual interaction.
 4. The apparatus of claim 1,wherein the one or more modules are configured to recognize a gesturemade by a user and compute the augmentation based at least in part onthe gesture recognized.
 5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the one ormore modules are configured to recognize a gesture comprising an eyemovement.
 6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or modules areconfigured to locate one or more markers in the physical surroundings todetermine an orientation and a position of the apparatus.
 7. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more modules are furtherconfigured to output one or more of an augmentation describing thecurrent state of play of the physical game and an augmentationcomprising instructions related to the current state of play of thephysical game.
 8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatuscomprises a tablet, a mobile phone, or a wearable device.
 9. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more modules are configured toreceive data communicated from another apparatus, the data usable tocompute the visual augmentation.
 10. The apparatus of claim 1, whereinthe one or more modules are further configured to output theaugmentation using auto-stereoscopic techniques.
 11. The apparatus ofclaim 1, wherein the light guide comprises: a layer to implement touchsensors across a front surface of the display; a layer of an opticallytransparent material; a diffraction grating matrix; a layer of amaterial of a lower optical index than the diffraction grating matrix;and an electro-chromic layer.
 12. A method comprising: receiving aninput to a computing device of a current state of play of a physicalgame; computing an augmentation based on the input to be displayed aspart of the physical game; and displaying the augmentation by thecomputing device on a display device that is at least partiallytransparent such that a physical portion of the game is viewable throughthe display device concurrently with the augmentation.
 13. The method ofclaim 12, wherein the input comprises one or more of a manualinteraction of a user with the computing device and a gesture recognizedby the computing device.
 14. The method of claim 13, wherein the manualinteraction comprises one or more of a touch input, a cursor movement, akeystroke, and a voice command and the gesture comprises one or more ofa pupil dilation, an eye movement, and a hand motion of one or moreuser.
 15. The method of claim 12, wherein the current state of playcomprises a score in the physical game.
 16. The method of claim 12,wherein the input is received by one or more of a camera, a touchscreen,and a keyboard.
 17. A method for displaying an augmentation, the methodperformed on a computing device by one or more modules implemented atleast partially in hardware, the method comprising: detecting featuresof a physical surroundings of an apparatus via image data received froma camera; computing a geometry of the physical surroundings based uponthe features detected; detecting a presence of a physical game in thephysical surroundings from the geometry of the physical surroundings;computing the augmentation based at least partially on a current stateof play of the physical game; and outputting the augmentation fordisplay via a display device in a location and a position based upon oneor more of the features, the geometry, and the physical game detected inthe physical surroundings.
 18. The method of claim 17, wherein detectingthe features comprises capturing images of one the physical surroundingsvia the camera and computing a location of one or more of an edge, acorner and a placement of an object in the images.
 19. The method ofclaim 17, wherein detecting features comprises using a depth camera. 20.The method of claim 17, wherein detecting a presence of the physicalgame comprises detecting the presence based upon a known size and aknown shape of the physical game.